seems like a long time ago now but it's really only been a month and a half. It was quite a memorable day and I thought it worth retelling. I had planned everything fairly well. I had the truck reserved, had power/phone/mail/water/etc set up for the new place, had cancelled my storage pending the move, had a moving crew lined up, directions prepared, everything all set and ready to go. That should have been my first clue that things were going to go to hell in a hand basket! I arrive at Ryder at 9:15 to pick up my truck. PLENTY of time to get it and take the 5 minute drive home to meet the moving crew arriving at 10:00. I'd probably even have time for breakfast! Or at least you'd think so. I stand in line for 30 minutes while the woman at the front desk takes care of the three customers in front of me. When I finally get to the front she tells me that they don't have the truck that I reserved, but that I could have a slightly bigger truck for no extra charge. "Great!" I think. "I can always use extra room!" So I stand there while she painstakingly hunts and pecks at the keyboard to enter my information. She goes to go get the key to my truck when her manager shows up to take the last person in line. Nice timing buddy! Where were you a half hour ago? But what do I care? I'm all set with my truck and am about to leave. The manager starts working on his customer's order, goes to the key peg board and says "where is my back loader?" He comes over to where I am standing and says "She can't have this truck. These people get this truck. They have a guarantee!" So he snatches the key away from my order. The woman I have been working with just says "Oh, sorry" and rips up all the paperwork she just did. I'll omit all the fussing and fuming that occurs next and just tell you that it ends up that they call around and are able to get me a truck in the Hanover Park office 15 minutes away and that I have to go pick it up. It is now 9:50 am. I call my dad to let him know what the scoop is and I finally arrive at my folks house 45 minutes late with everyone waiting for me. "Good! We've got our moving disaster out of the way early today!" I say foolishly.

Things at this point start going more according to plan. We have a lot of different stops to make because I've stored stuff all over the Northwestern Suburbs, so the deal is work really hard for 30 minutes and then drive 30 minutes. We pack my parent's house, go to Elgin and pack that storage unit, go to Mary Jane's house and pack the woodshop out of her basement and then head up to the last storage unit in Wauconda, about a half hour from home. We get there and I punch in my code exactly like I have done the other hundred times I've been here to drop stuff off. Except that this time the door doesn't open. The first time, or the second time, or the third time I try. I call the woman who has been my contact and can't get her to answer her cell phone. So I leave a message, and another and another. We wait for about 20 minutes and go across the street to the police station to see if they have any more information on the woman who runs the place but they don't. We wait another 20 minutes and still no call back. Now, most of this time we've been talking strategy. I know from numerous visits to the storage unit that my unit backs up to an apartment complex and only a 6 foot fence separates the two. I go scouting with my dad to check the feasibility of loading my stuff over the fence and into the truck. I'm not sure that everyone was totally sold on the plan, but I really couldn't think of anything better to do. I only had the truck until that evening and didn't want to have to rent it another day. When we started, our intention was that we would just take the boxes and such and then we could drive the van up later in the week for some of the larger items. But as we went along, we got bolder and bolder and finally just decided to hoist it all over the barrier including a computer desk, an entertainment unit and the makings for two bunk beds. It must have been the highlight of the weekend for many of the residents who sat and watched. We must have been moving stuff for a good hour and I'm still amazed that no one called the cops. It makes me wonder if watching people load stuff over that fence is slightly more common place than we would have guessed! After the last item was removed from storage, we headed to my new home. The rest of the day was uneventful (thank god!) and so began my adventure into single living!

Ethan is growing into quite a big boy - literally! He weighs about 27 pounds and I'm really starting to feel it in my arms when I pick him up. So much so that I've started doing pushups to strengthen my flabby little muscles. He's not going to get any smaller, that's for sure! So I better be getting stronger. He FINALLY has all four molars completely through and that has been a wonderful thing. I don't remember the last time some teeth or other weren't coming in and making life miserable for him. Sadly, I don't think the eye teeth are far behind, but I'll take the respite where I can get it.

The terrible twos have hit with full force. And I'm amazed I have as much patience as I do. I don't get "plugged in" nearly as much when a tantrum begins and am actually starting to think about what Ethan needs in those moments instead of worrying that everyone around me thinks I'm a horrible mother who should be able to control her child better than that. STARTING to do that :) Hallelujah!! It does wear on me (especially when I haven't gotten enough sleep), but I am loving all the other cute stuff so much that it seems to balance out. Like how Ethan says "CHEE" (cheers) and wants to clink glasses with me at the table before he drinks. Or the day I finally figured out that "buh ba buh ba buh ba buh ba" means Ethan wants his plastic shark - and the "Buh"ing is the Jaws theme music. Or how he says Hi to just about everyone we meet and says "Bye! See you" when we leave. Or how he loves to send objects down the slide, one after another, for hours. Or how he occasionally says "tankew" (thank you) after I give him something he really wants. Or how he gathers up ALL the stuff in the crib when I come to get him out - blanket, animals, sippy cup, books. I still don't know why he does that, but it is uniquely Ethan and makes me smile every time. Or how he wants to be my helper no matter what I'm doing: pushing buttons on the microwave, typing at the computer, putting on my shoes. Or how he spontaneously breaks into applause when listening to people clap on the radio. Or how he now asks me "Whatsat?" (what's that?) a thousand times a day, curious about everything around him. Or how he streaks across the room to fling himself into my arms after I haven't seen him for a day. We have our good days and bad days, but I've never done anything near as challenging or near as rewarding as being a mom.

Is very peaceful. I love being on my own again and really enjoy having a space to be in charge of. I spent the first month or so unpacking, a little at a time. It's been a real job! I decided to embark on a "rechoosing" of all my stuff, some of which I hadn't seen since I packed up everything in a rush in Albuquerque. Some of the stuff I have just because I've always had it. And some stuff I had because I bought it when I was married. And some stuff I just accumulated and never threw away. So I've been going through and looking with "new eyes" to see if I still really want it all. A lot of it I do still like and want in my home. But I gave away three huge garbage bags full of stuff and threw out a bunch more. I've been doing that kind of processing all across the board. Like about house cleaning. I know what I learned growing up (probably too clean for me) and I know what I did when I was married (definitely not clean enough!). But neither of those is really what I would pick. So I've started looking at basic questions like "How long does it take before I think the bathroom needs to be cleaned?" So I clean the bathroom, write down the date and then wait and see. It's been very cool to actually be able to pick what works. I'm cleaning because I think it needs it and no other reason. That seems to be the case in so many areas of my life right now. I'm letting go of how I think things "should" look and really getting in touch with what I want and need and what works for me. And when something needs tweaking, I tweak. It's all evolving over time and I'll be interested to see where I am in a 6 months.

A quick congratulations to newlyweds Scott and Shannon Janicki! I attended their remarriage in July and it was a beautiful ceremony. Aren't they a good looking couple? :) Please join me in wishing them all the best for their new (and renewed) family!

I'll admit that I've been fairly lame about getting pictures up on the web and intend to fix that this month. I did update the pictures of the house to include
before/after shots if you're interested in seeing what it looks like now. Take care and I'll update you all next month!